New Dawn
by MickDunD
Summary: What if the Akatsuki left behind a legacy, entrusted with the goal of peace? These six children, each with the skills of their parents, are the next generation of Akatsuki. And it is their destiny to bring peace to the Shinobi Nations. But an evil is rising behind the shadows, an evil that no ordinary shinobi can overcome, but can only be destroyed by the rising of the new dawn
1. Hidan's Cursing Head

**OKAY, THIS IS MY FIRST NARUTO FANFICTION, SO NO FLAMES. THIS IS TAKING PLACE RIGHT AFTER THE KONAN LEFT THE AKATSUKI AND (MAJOR SPOILER ALERT) OBITO USED HIS SHARINGAN TO FORCE HER TO TELL HIM WHERE NAGATO'S BODY WAS HIDDEN SO HE COULD HAVE THE RINNEGAN. ALSO, KABUTO HASN'T GONE TO TAKE SASORI'S OR KAKUZU'S BODY YET FOR THE EDO TENSEI. THINGS ARE GOING TO PROGESS A LITTLE SLOWER THAN THE MANGA SO I CAN INTRODUCE THE CHARACTERS. BUT I CAN PROMISE YOU THAT THINGS ARE GOING TO GET NICE AND ACTION-EY PRETTY SOON!**

**ONE LAST THING: WHEN I SAY "START PLAYING…" GO ONLINE AND SEARCH THAT SONG. IT WILL COMPLEMENT THE MOOD OF THE FIGHTS.**

**_ENJOY!_**

Chapter 1: Hidan's Cursing Head

He walked through the shady groves of the Nara Clan's forest, a kunai tightly gripped in his fist. He needed to be sure that he wasn't found out. After all, he had killed three of the heathens guarding the damn place. Now all he had to do was find the damn place. It had been three months since he had heard about how Shikamaru Nara had defeated the dreaded Akatsuki member, Hidan, who had ended the life of Asuma Sarutobi alongside Kakuzu. For three months he had been biding his time, gathering information as well as practicing the technique he would need to carry out his plan.

"Damnit!" he yelled, pounding a tree. "Not here either!"

He jumped off into the trees and kept looking around. He needed to make sure that he had the right spot or else people would suspect him. Ryo had already found out where his was hidden, Yume's was still alive, Kaiyo's was dead and so was Takumi's, and Fukyu was trying to find a way to reanimate hers. Why, fucking _why_ did his have to be _buried_ in the middle of a fucking Clan Forest?

_AUTHOR STYLE: FLASHBACK NO JUTSU: THREE MONTHS AGO!_

_He was thirteen, celebrating his birthday. But he was alone. He really didn't have friends aside from the others, and then again they were forbidden from seeing each other aside from the occasional run-in on the street. He was alone, but he was alright with it. And Jashin-sama was always there, as he had been taught. _

_He was sitting in a barbeque restaurant, waiting for a sign. He hadn't seen his mentor in years, so he was hoping to see him today, just once. He didn't hear much from any of them actually, only bits and pieces of their exploits around the great nations. Apparently they weren't supposed to speak to them, either…in case they were discovered. But somehow, his mentor always managed to stop by and see him every once in a while, engaging in a ritual while he stayed. _

_Right about then was when the three of them walked in; Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi, and Shikamaru Nara. He gave them a casual glance, noticing that they all had a few bandages on their bodies before returning to his birthday dinner of spare ribs. He was allowed to indulge himself every once in a while, so today was one of those days. _

_"So he's gone?" Ino asked from across the table. _

_"Yeah," Shikamaru said. "Kakuzu's dead as well."_

_He perked up. Wasn't Kakuzu immortal?_

_"How'd you do it?" Choji asked. "I thought the only way to kill Hidan was decapitation, and even then it's almost impossible to get close to him without getting cursed like Asuma-sensei."_

_"Well he got cocky," Shikamaru said coolly. "I was able to get him in a trap and blow his body to pieces. Then I buried him ten feet underground with explosive notes. He won't be coming back."_

_"So where's he buried?" Choji asked, shoveling some barbeque into his trap. _

_"Out in the Nara forest," he said. "Close enough to the edge where we fought Kakuzu. He's gone for good."_

_"Wow Shikamaru, you're really amazing," Ino said. _

_Three tables away, he was trembling hard in his seat. Hidan…dead…blown to bits…buried…gone. The man who had cared for him, raised him, _named_ him, for Jashin-sama's sake…was gone. _

_He slammed his fist down on the table, stifling his tears. No, Hidan couldn't die. Period! He could just be weakened by dismemberment. If he could just find Hidan and get him back together…but the hard part is finding a time when he could get inside the damn place! He winced, realizing how many times Hidan said he overthought things. He wasn't even ready to learn the "__**Death Possession Blood**__" technique that made Hidan famous because of that reason. _

_"But I'll do it," he said to himself, running out of the restaurant and taking to the rooftops. "I'll learn that jutsu that he said could put him back together again."_

_He smirked and stared down at a Chunin patrolling a dark alleyway. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the collapsible pike that was a birthday gift from Hidan. He grinned and grabbed the pendent hanging around his neck and said a short prayer before flicking the pike open and jumping down on the Chunin, kicking him in the head and driving the pike through his chest in a sacrificial manner._

_"ALL HAIL JASHIN-SAMA!" he yelled as the Chunin's blood spurted everywhere._

_END FLASHBACK NO JUTSU…KAI_

"Damnit, Hidan…where the fuck are you?" he asked, jumping into the trees and branch-running his way around the forest, the large sealing scroll on his back feeling heavier and heavier with each step he tool.

He needed to find a large crater that was being watched by the deer; that was all he had been able to find out by talking to Shikamaru, who had come in one day to teach a lesson on Shinobi tactics at the Academy. He managed to find out the general location of Hidan's "grave," through a little begging and buying some dango for him. He wished he could sacrifice the bastard to Jashin-sama, but he needed him alive until he found Hidan and fixed his body. It had taken three months to gather enough information, plan his infiltration in accordance to the spring festival, and most of all: learn the fucking technique! If he screwed this up, then everything was ruined. After all, they needed as many of their mentors alive as possible for their plan to work.

He saw a bunch of stones up ahead on the ground in front of him. He grinned and pushed more chakra to his feet as he landed quickly, picking up one of the stones. It was really weathered, but as he rubbed his thumb over the edge, he could feel the trace of explosive tags on the bottom edge.

"Found you," he said as he started digging at the center of a slight indent in the ground with his bare hands.

He winced as sharp rocks sliced up his palms, staining the ground beneath him red with his blood. But he just kept grinning and dug faster. It would have been much easier for Yume to have come and just levitated the rocks with her weird powers, but she was away looking for her Kaa-san.

There was a rustle behind him and he turned to see a deer looking at him. Remembering how Shikamaru said the deer watched over Hidan's grave in case he managed to chew his way out of the ground, he cautiously reached into his ninja holster for a weapon, since his pike was sealed in a scroll back in his apartment. As the deer turned to run away, he panicked and made hand signs.

**"Fuuton: Daitoppa! (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)"** he called, readying the kunai in his hand just in case.

The sudden gust of wind threw the deer back and slammed it into a tree behind it. For good measure, he quickly threw his kunai at the stunned animal neck, gaining a clean hit and severing its jugular. He was tempted by the sight of blood to perform a ritual to Jashin-sama, but he shook his head and resumed digging. Hours seemed to by as he dug deeper and deeper into the ground, checking each rock for bloodstains. Suddenly, he found something interesting amongst a layer of pebbles. There was a ring, with the kanji for "three" written on it.

"YES! I found you, wahoo!" he yelled as he danced in joy before shouting the heavens. "Thank you, Jashin-sama!"

He dug more and more, searching for Hidan's head. With any luck, he'd be the first one done before the day was over. He found a pair of legs, lying crushed and unusable beneath a group of large boulders. Next was an arm, then the lower torso, chest, and other arm. All of them were broken beyond repair, but that would be fixed easily enough.

"Come on, come on," he begged, as his hands were killing him from the digging and he still needed to do the ritual.

Finally, he saw a few strands of silver hair poking through the soil. Grinning, he grabbed them and yanked as hard as he could.

"OW, OW, OW, WATCH IT, YOU'RE PULLING MY HAIR!" yelled an angry voice as he pulled a severed head from the ground. "Let go of me you fucking heathen or I'll fucking sacrifice your ass to Jashin-sama!"

"Good to see you've still got that mouth of yours," he grumbled as Hidan's head kept spitting out curses.

"-and then, I'll murder your fucking heathen family in front of your fucking eyes!"

"That's kind of impossible," he said, calmly. "Because then you'd be killing yourself, and you can't die, Tou-san."

Hidan paused and took a careful look at the boy holding his head. He looked to be about thirteen years old, just ready to graduate from the Shinobi academy. He wore a blood-red shirt that hugged his chest and abs, but was a little baggy around his arms, and a pair of black ANBU pants with a pair of holsters bandaged to both of his thighs, saying that he was a very potent blades master. His white hair was slicked back like his was, but the fact that he had magenta eyes caught him the most.

"Satsu?" he asked.

Satsu nodded. "In the fucking flesh, Tou-san!" he said, jumping out of the hole and over to the pile of body parts that he had arranged by throwing them out of the pit the second he found them. "Now, shaddup, 'cause I gotta focus on this."

"Wait, son, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Putting you back together without asking that greedy bastard, Kakuzu, for help," he said, opening the huge sealing scroll he had brought with him and reassembling Hidan's body on it, setting his neck so it was looking at the sky. After that, he struggled to put on a pair of ninja shorts and a simple mesh top, which got a few grumbles from Hidan about how uncomfortable it was to wear a shirt.

"Oh shut the fuck up, Tou-san," Satsu snickered. "You can't go around shirtless all the time."

"And why not?" Hidan grinned, the dried blood around his lips cracking as he smiled.

"Ryo's already called you a stripper priest once," he grinned back. "I don't want to give him a reason to call you that again.

Hidan cursed again loudly, swearing his head off at Ryo and Kakuzu (who had also called him that once). No, his head literally fell off from swearing to angrily, which made Satsu swear at him as he replaced his head back on the scroll. On the scroll, written entirely in Satsu's own blood, was the Jashin symbol, which was large enough to fit Hidan's chest and torso in completely. Written inside it were a series of sealing notes along with the kanji for "heal."

"Wait a second, son," Hidan said. "Is this what I think it is?"

Satsu nodded and sat cross legged in front of his father's bloody, mutilated, and crushed body. "It took me three months to learn and prepare for this fucking ritual," he muttered. "So I may as well fucking use it on you. Now shut your trap and let me concentrate."

He took a deep breath and brought his hands together. Jashinism didn't traditionally use ninjutsu, but there were a few exceptions…like this technique. If he had learned it right, then he could put Hidan back together and heal his body back to its healthiest state. But he could only use it once in his lifetime, so if he fucked up he would either have to go to the Konaha medic corps or wait until Ryo could help them.

He began weaving hand signs, the same ones he had practiced for three hours each day for the last three months. He knew them by heart. He didn't care how much time passed as he wove the seals, he was only focused on fixing his dad. Finally, he made it to the last seal and gripped it tight as he poured chakra into the seal.

**"Jijutsu: Jashin no Nyusatsu! (Curse Technique: Bidding of Jashin)!"** he yelled.

Hidan's body glowed red as he went into his cursed mode, the white and black skeleton pattern appearing on his skin. Slowly, his crushed limbs and body re-inflated, his skin fusing back together as his body healed. Finally, the glowing stopped and his skin returned to normal. Finished, Satsu fell back, his chakra completely exhausted by the technique.

"Fuck," he growled as Hidan sat up and rubbed his neck.

"Thanks, Satsu," he said, giving a rare and true smile.

Satsu smiled back at his father and gave him a hug. "It's good to see you again, Tou-san," he said. "A lot has happened since you died."

"Really?" he asked. "Like what?"

"Tobi turned out to be a very bad boy," he said in a cute squeaky imitation of the ex-idiot of the Akatsuki before spitting on the floor. "Last we heard, he was going out to Amegakure to find Pain-sama's Rinnegan and Konan-san's gone to stop him. Yume-sama's gone as well to help Konan."

"Who's Yume?" he asked. "I only knew of Ryo, Kaiyo, Fukyu, and Takumi?"

"She's Leader-sama and Konan-san's kid," he shrugged.

"Wait, Pain-in-the-ass knocked his 'angel" up?" he asked.

"That's the gist of it," he said. "I really don't know that much about her since she keeps to herself most of the time. She's our leader now since she's got a freaky talent."

"Oh yeah?" Hidan asked. "What can she do?"

"It's better if you see it yourself, Tou-san," he said with an inward shiver, remembering how it felt when Yume had to punish him once for sacrificing a missing-nin whose bounty they needed. Her jutsus were terrifying, even if they were limited in number.

Hidan cocked an eyebrow and shrugged. "So who else is dead?" he asked as they started walking back through the woods.

"All of you except for Tobi, Zetsu, and Konan," Satsu shrugged. "But we've figured out ways to revive a few of you guys without the Edo Tensei."

Hidan grinned and ruffled Satsu's hair, making said boy grown in annoyance as he fixed his hair. "Are you bringing that old Miser back as well?"

"We have to," Satsu groaned. "Or else Ryo would start sulking in his little emo-corner."

Hidan chuckled, picturing a tiny version of Kakuzu sulking in a corner, counting a few coins to keep himself busy. Satsu joined in laughing as they walked back through the woods towards the New Akatsuki Hideout.

**OKAY, HERE'S THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MY LATEST STORY (I FEEL LIKE JIRAIYA ANNOUNCING ONE OF HIS NOVELS TO NARUTO) ****_NEW DAWN_****. I HOPE ALL OF YOU PEOPLE OUT THERE THINK THIS IS A GOOD STORY AND WILL WANT TO KEEP READING, BECAUSE THE FIGHT SCENES, THE GENIN, AND CHUNIN EXAMS WILL BE KICK ASS!**


	2. Secrets of the New Dawn

Chapter 2: Secrets of the New Dawn:

**OKAY, BEFORE WE START, I NEED TO ADRESS SOMETHING THAT I HAVE GOTTEN A SURPRISINGLY LARGE AMOUNT OF PM'S ABOUT. SATSU ISN'T AS INSANE AS HIDAN. HE ONLY GOES INTO HIS "ALL-HAIL JASHIN-SAMA" MODE WHEN HE'S KILLING OR ON THE BATTLEFIELD (NOT THAT THERE'S A DIFFERENCE). HE'S A NICE GUY, BUT HE CAN BE A DICK, JUST LIKE HIDAN. **

**IN THIS CHAPTER, WE MEET THE REST OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF AKATSUKI. ****_AND_**** THE NEW PAIN-SAMA!**

(NO ONE'S POV)

The festival was drawing to a close as the father-son duo crept across the rooftops, making sure to stay out of sight of the guards. It was very difficult for them, as just like the previous generation of Akatsuki, Satsu had been selected as the group's "human tank," thanks to his semi-immortality. He was really close to finishing off the ceremony that gave Hidan his powers, and his only weak spot now was his heart. He wouldn't die unless hit there, which meant he couldn't properly use the **Shiji Hyoketsu (Death Possession Blood)** technique without killing himself, which was something he wanted to avoid.

"So where's your base?" Hidan asked as the final firework went off behind them.

"Hidden under the Chunin exam stadium," he said as they ran across the rooftops out of sight of the guards. "There's a blood seal on the door that Fukyu managed to make. If I'm right, then the rest of us should be back already. That fucking ritual takes too long."

Hidan let out a barking laugh and added more chakra to his feet, allowing him to speed ahead of Satsu. "Come on, son!" he yelled. "Let's see how fast you've gotten since I last saw you!"

"Old fucker!" Satsu growled as he did the same and ran as fast as he could after his father.

Needless to say, Hidan had him outmatched in terms of speed and agility from his years in Akatsuki. He tore across the rooftops like greased lightning, Satsu following at least a foot behind. They ran like this for a few miles before Hidan suddenly stopped and held up his hand.

"What is it, Tou-san?" Satsu asked.

"It's him," Hidan growled, pointing out at the rooftop where a single man sat on the edge with a book. "From when Kakuzu and I fought those brats trying to get the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki…that's Sharingan Kakashi, the Copy Ninja."

"And you're worried about him?" Satsu cocked an eyebrow.

"Why shouldn't I be?" Hidan snarled. "The fucker managed to sneak up on Kakuzu and sucker punch one of his hearts out like it was nothing!"

"Eh, he's just a pervert," Satsu shrugged. "We all figured out his weakness a long time ago. Watch this."

He reached back into his ninja pouch and pulled out Icha Icha Paradise: Burning Nights Premium Platinum Edition, signed by Jiriaya himself. Hidan cocked an eyebrow as his son left the safety of the shadows and walked towards the S-ranked Elite Jonin.

_His weakness is those stupid erotic books?_ He thought. _He's a ninja who's managed to copy one thousand jutsu and could take on me and Kakuzu at the same time and yet his weakness is porn?_

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei!" Satsu called, making the one-eyed Shinobi turn and look.

"Oh, hey, Satsu," he said with an eye smile, closing the book. "What are you doing up here this late? Shouldn't you be at the festival?"

"Nah, I'm not into that kind of stuff," he said, bringing out the book. "Anyway, I ordered a book on chakra control a few weeks ago, but they must have had a mix up and sent me this. I wanted to ask you what I should do with this."

Kakashi's eye widened as he saw the book as he took it into his trembling hands. He carefully opened it and read the opening to make sure it was genuine. Still trembling, he looked back at Satsu.

"Ya know what, Kakashi-sensei?" he said. "Keep it, my parents wouldn't approve of me reading it."

Kakashi quickly thanked him rapidly and began reading, crying anime tears of joy as he began skimming the pages. Satsu grinned evilly and walked back to where his dad was standing there, his jaw on the ground anime style; completely shocked at the Copy Ninja's reaction to a simple cheap erotic novel. Satsu laughed under his breath and ran off towards the dome of the Chunin Exam stadium.

"So who's been taking care of you while I was away?" he asked.

"No one," Satsu grinned. "Each of them tried to stop me from praying to Jashin-sama and attaining immortality. It was always the blood that annoyed them. So I sacrificed them all and made their deaths look like suicides! Old Lady Tsunade decided to give me a chance at living on my own, so I took it. It was either that or the orphanage, and I think sacrificing the monks who ran it would make Jashin-sama angry."

Hidan grinned and closed his eyes. "I'm sure Jashin-sama appreciated the heathen's souls that you sent to him," he said as they walked through the entrance and into the stadium.

Right away, Satsu jumped into the Kage box and slit his palm open with a kunai.

**"Chi Fuin…KAI! (Blood Seal…RELEASE!)"** he yelled as he slammed his bleeding hand against the Hokage's seat. A series of blood seals opened up from the chair and sped down to the center of the battlefield. They gathered in a circle and a gigantic hole opened up, with a staircase leading down into the depths of the base.

"Who fuckin' made this place?" Hidan whistled as they walked past the gloomy torch-lit hallway into the main hallway.

"Yume," Satsu said as they walked into a large hall with six raised circles for standing arranged in a circle. "She used her freaky jutsu powers and carved out a whole section of the earth like it was nothing. Anyway, this is the meeting room where we all come together every day for our meeting. The next one should be pretty soon, so I suggest you get comfortable."

Hidan mumbled something about neck pains from taking a dirt nap before he sat against the wall and started fiddling with his Jashin pendant. Satsu just sighed and pulled out a custom kunai he had ordered and began sharpening it. It was designed like that of a ceremonial dagger so he could use it to sacrifice people if he didn't have his pike. He had tried to get a scythe, as his dad had taught him how to wield one, but no one would make them after what his dad did to that Asuma guy. Suddenly, he remembered a conversation that he and Ryo had before they had gone off individually to find their parent's bodies.

"Hey Tou-san?" he asked as Hidan looked up at him.

"What?" he grunted.

"Ryo said he was going to find the miser's body," he said. "And isn't that where you dropped your scythe?"

"Yeah, so what?" he said.

"He said if he could find it, he'd bring it back," he said. "And I was wondering…since you can't be seen with it or else people will know you're out of that hole…would you finish teaching me how to use it?"

Hidan looked a bit surprised by this. During all of their past spars, Satsu had always preferred to fight with that knife of his or his ritual pike, using his wind chakra to make them more deadly. He'd always been as headstrong as himself when he was a little boy growing up in Yugakure, deciding that his way would always work and tactics just took too much fucking time. For him to practically ask him to hand over his scythe and his knowledge of combat was a big turn in his personality. He looked away and chuckled thoughtfully to himself.

_Satsu…you've really grown up,_ he thought.

"We'll see, son," he said. "We'll just have to see."

NINJA ART: TIMESKIP NO JUTSU…three hours later.

"Oi, idiot, wake up," said a voice.

Satsu groaned and sat up from where he had been sleeping on his back. He looked up to see a tall boy with dark tanned skin standing over him. His eyes were green with red irises and he wore a mask over the lower part of his face, allowing his shoulder-length dark brown hair to fall down.

"Shut up, ya money freak," he groaned. "I was having a nice fucking dream too."

"Be quiet, brats," said a low female voice from the shadows. "We're here to wait for Yume-sama's orders, not pick fights."

"Yeah, listen to Fukyu no Aijin, you two, hmm?" said a younger male voice from right beside the other voice. "Besides, you two immortals would tear this place to bits if you started duking it out."

"Shut up, you damn terrorist!" Satsu yelled. "How about I come over there and start duking it out with you then?"

"Shut up, all of you!" yelled a soft silky voice from across the circle. "Or I'll cut you all new ones!"

"Kaiyo, I don't think that'll have much effect on Satsu and Ryo," said the other girl. "Perhaps you should leave that to me?"

"Why don't you give me a hand, Fukyu?" Kaiyo grinned as she stepped out of the shadows and onto her circle.

Kaiyo Hoshigaki was one of the prettiest girls around Konaha. Her skin was exotically pale, thanks to her mother's genetics overpowering her father's blue skin, but she had somehow managed to inherit his impressive height. Her hair was as black and unruly as stormy water, falling down her back to her waist like ocean waves. She was a skilled kenjutsu user and carried around a full-tang katana sword until she could reclaim Samehada, her birthright blade. Her eyes resembled Kisame's and she had small gill slits under them as well as a few on her shoulders. Like Kiri's swordsmen and her father, her teeth were jagged like steak knives. Among them she was known as the "White Shark of the Akatsuki," which is the name she wanted to make for herself in the ninja world. She was a bit of a sadist, enjoying slicing people multiple times before ending them.

"I think that would be entertaining," Fukyu chuckles as she stepped out.

Fukyu no Akasuna was one of the shorter members of the Akatsuki. Her father, Sasori no Akasuna, was already a puppet when the rest of them had children. So he adopted her, an orphan from Suna. She always wore a trench coat and a hood which covered her mouth and forehead, so the only things they knew about her appearance was that she had piercing green eyes and black hair with bright scarlet highlights in in it. She was a first-rate puppet master like her adopted father, carrying her favorite puppets "Brother" and "Sister" around with her wherever she went. Their weapons were coated in her father's favorite poison, a gift from him for her birthday before he died. She had inherited Sasori's impatience as well as perpetual boredom, something that always made her, in Satsu's words, "a pissy bitch."

"You want some help, Aijin?" asked the other voice.

"No thank you, Takumi," Fukyu said. "I just need this to relieve my boredom."

Takumi was Deidara's adopted son and heir to the Explosion Release Kinjutsu and other techniques that Deidara had made that had made the blonde terrorist into what he was. In addition, he had a Kekkei Genkai for **Bakuton, **but he was originally shunned in Iwagakure because he couldn't control his abilities right. His blonde hair was shot with chocolate-colored highlights, hanging down low over both his bright blue eyes while the back of it was held up in a topknot. He was a bit of a prankster with his explosive clay, stashing small amounts of it in obscure places and then detonating them randomly to make people scream at the loud snaps and bangs. But despite this hobby of his, he was still a strong ninja. In addition to using his father's speech impediment, he often called Fukyu "Aijin" (mistress) much to her annoyance since Deidara had called her father "Danna" (master).

"Hey, idiot," Ryo grunted as he pulled out a sealing scroll. "You might want your dad's permission before you use this."

Cocking an eyebrow, Satsu unsealed the item inside the scroll. He grinned and looked over at Hidan, who shot him a thumbs up and stood to watch this spar. Satsu's face contorted in a psychotic grin as he rested the, somewhat rusty, tri-bladed scythe on his shoulder and looked at the Kaiyo and Fukyu with sheer insanity.

"I was waiting for a chance to test out my new jutsu," he chuckled evilly.

"The usual combo first?" Ryo asked, cracking his knuckles.

"Sure, why not?" Satsu grinned and stepped forwards, spinning the scythe once over in his hands. "I need to make sure I'm not rusty with this thing anymore."

"Well, don't do it in here," said a low, menacing voice from the stairwell. "I'm not paying for the damages you do, Satsu."

"Now that you mention it, Tou-san," Ryo said, stepping away. "I'd rather not pay either."

"Good to see you haven't changed, Kakuzu," Hidan yawned and stood up to greet his former partner.

"I was so hoping that you would have, Hidan," Kakuzu smirked under his mask. "You're still way too loud."

Hidan snarled and lightning sparked between their eyes. "At least I didn't lose that 35 million that you managed to collect from that Sarutobi guy," he smirked.

Kakuzu snarled back, his stitching beginning to come undone as he got ready show Hidan some serious pain. Knowing how hotheaded their fathers were, both Satsu and Ryo moved to stop them as they heard a clatter of wood from behind Kakuzu.

"Sasori?" Hidan asked, cocking an eyebrow at a facedown mop of red hair. "What the fuck? Is that really you?"

"Yes you idiot, it's me," the puppet master growled as he got up.

"Sorry about the steps, Tou-san," Fukyu said from behind her coat. "They get a little slippery every once in a while."

"It's alright, musume," he said, kindly, which was the first nice thing they had ever heard from the self-proclaimed "emotionless" man.

Fukyu eye smiled (with both eyes) and walked off to the side to talk to her father.

"So how did Satsu put you back together?" Kakuzu asked.

"Right after you tell me how Sasori's walking around again," Hidan said, still looking at the redhead like he was a ghost.

"Fukyu and Takumi found his heart container and spent about twice of the Ichibi's reserves worth of chakra healing it so they could reinstall it into his body," Ryo said. "They asked me to help close some cuts in it, so that's how I know. Then they stole his body back from a puppeteer named Kankuro no Sabaku."

"And I used a secret Jashinist curse that fixed Tou-san up better than ever," Satsu smirked, pleased with himself. "So how did you get Baka-zu over here kicking again?"

"All I had to do was integrate a fresh heart into his body," Ryo smirked back beneath his mask while his father fell over backwards at his new nickname while Hidan laughed at him. "That's the upside of the **Earth Grudge Fear**: We really are immortal. Even if our body dies, we can always restart them again."

"I guess the miser's happy that it was free," Hidan muttered, causing Kakuzu to scowl and slap him upside the head with a hardened fist, causing Hidan to swear furiously. "OW! That fucking hurt, I'll fucking kill you, Kakuzu!"

"You'll do no such thing, Hidan," said a powerful voice from the far side of the room.

The five kids assembled suddenly flinched and bowed their heads respectfully towards the girl standing before them. Her red hair was straight down her back to just below her shoulder blades, a few strands framing her face. Her amber eyes glowed in the dark, dark eye shadow surrounding them. She looked to be about Satsu's age, but was a little taller than him. Her clothes were soaking wet and she was panting slightly, like she's just run a great distance. Slung over her left shoulder was the body of an adult woman with blue hair.

"Who the fuck are you?" Hidan sneered.

The girl's eyes narrowed and she extended her right hand out towards Hidan.

"Leader-sama!" the kids said and bowed deeply before their leader's temper got the better of her and they were all crushed into tiny ball-sized lumps.

"Was your mission successful, Yume-sama?" Kaiyo asked.

The now named Yume nodded and gently dropped the body on the ground. At the same time; Hidan, Kakuzu, and Sasori's eyes shot open when they saw who it was.

"Konan-san!" they all said at the same time.

Konan didn't reply, she just lay in the ground staring blankly at the ceiling. There was blood pouring from a puncture wound on her chest, creating a puddle on the stone floor around them. Her **Shikigami no Mai (Shikigami Dance) **jutsu was half active, as bit of paper were flaking off her body and into the blood puddle.

"Ryo!" Yume shouted.

"Hai!" he responded and sped over to Konan's body.

Right away, a thread poked its way from his sleeves and into the skin surrounding the wound. The thread wound its way around, closing up the hole in the chest before going deeper into the stab to close up the rest of the damage. They all watched him work, fascinated by the medical use of the **Earth Grudge Fear. **Soon the only thing that remained of the seemingly fatal stab wound was a thin line with some black thread holding it together.

"She's fine now, Yume-sama," he said, backing away from the Angel of Amegakure's prone form.

"What happened to your Kaa-san, Yume-sama?" Takumi asked, nervously playing with a lump of clay in his hands while his mouths licked it.

"Madara happened," Yume spat on the ground when she said his name. "He's after Tou-san's Rinnegan and Kaa-san tried to stop him. He used a Sharingan-based jutsu called **Izanagi** to escape her paper bomb trap before stabbing her and putting her in a genjutsu. She tried to fight, but the Sharingan was too powerful. She gave up the location and…now she's been unresponsive."

The room went silent except for the sound of Konan's comatose breathing. They all swallowed hard, feeling waves of Killer Intent rolling off Yume's body, along with a heavy surge of chakra, the beginning of one of Yume's deadly jutsus.

"Um, Yume-sama?" Ryo said. "You're doing it again."

"I know that!" she snapped and everyone suddenly felt as if they had gotten fifty pounds heavier. "I just…I just wasn't fast enough…I could have saved Kaa-san if I wasn't so fucking slow!"

"Who's Madara?" Sasori asked, trying to shift the focus of the conversation.

The feeling of heaviness disappeared as Yume looked at the three adults before her, sighing. "You all remember Tobi?" she asked.

The three S-ranked Shinobi nodded, with an "annoying lollipop shithead" from Hidan.

"Well, Tobi's real name is Madara Uchiha, founder of the Uchiha Clan," she explained. "He was the real head of Akatsuki, not my Tou-san. His goal is to complete his "Eye of the Moon" plan, which involves reviving the Juubi and becoming its jinchuuriki to cast an infinite Tsukuyomi on the moon and take over the world."

"So what were we to this plan?" Kakuzu growled, scowling beneath his mask.

"Accessories," Yume said, not looking afraid in the slightest by his tone. "Pawns, pieces on a chessboard. You were only there to capture the jinchuuriki for him."

"So we were all just a bunch of fucking stupid pawns?!" Hidan swore.

"Not just pawns; we were also stepping stones for him," Sasori said. "He's used our deaths to forward his own plans for world domination. I do not appreciate being used as a puppet."

"You _are_ a puppet, of course someone would use you" Hidan rolled his eyes while Kakuzu shook his head at his partner's antics. "But anyway, when do we fucking kill this Madara guy?"

"I don't know," Yume said, as the rest of the kids silently moved to the back of the room. "None of us are at his level, so killing all of us would be easy for him. We all need to train and ready ourselves. Besides…we all need to graduate first."

Hidan glanced at Satsu, who grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "Graduation is tomorrow," he said, trying to save himself.

"And that is why we all need to get some sleep, yeah," Takumi yawned. "Leader-sama, can we go home?"

Yume nodded. "I'm gonna stay with my Kaa-san, though," she said. "I need to break the genjutsu on her."

"Very well," Kakuzu said. "We will find our own places in the village until Konan is awake. Use her ring to contact us once she is able to move and we'll take her somewhere safe."

"What will you guys be doing in the meantime?" Satsu asked.

"I'm three months behind on my rituals," Hidan shrugged. "Jashin-sama is probably annoyed with me. I haven't sacrificed anyone in months. On that matter, I haven't eaten in months either and I'm starving!"

"What about you, Tou-san?" Ryo asked.

"I'll be taking another crack at the Bingo Book," Kakuzu shrugged. "I need to replace the funds I lost in that battle with Asuma Sarutobi and the Copy Ninja."

"What about Sasori?" Kaiyo asked, nodding at the puppeteer.

"Not sure," he shrugged. "Maybe…maybe I'll take a shot at a peaceful life. Now that everyone thinks I'm dead, I can try living normally for once."

He looked over at his adopted daughter and gave her a loving smile.

"Good luck with your test, musume," he told Fukyu. She smiled beneath her coat and bowed her head before backing away without another word. She was always the mysterious one of their little organization.

"Use that thing, well, Satsu," Hidan smirked, jerking his head at the scythe.

He smirked and gave Hidan a thumbs-up. "You know it, Tou-san," he said before Hidan, Kakuzu, and Sasori disappeared.

"Isn't it a little strange?" Takumi said.

"What is?" Kaiyo asked.

"Well, you guys just got your parents back and now they're leaving again," he said. "It's a bit weird if you think about it."

"Takumi, our parents are S-ranked criminals wanted for murder and kidnapping jinchuuriki across the elemental nations," Ryo said, jerking his thumb at Satsu. "The idiot's father slaughtered nearly half his village and is wanted for near genocide, mine is wanted for stealing a kinjutsu and trying to assassinate the Shodaime Hokage, yours for blowing up half of Iwa, Fukyu's for killing the Sandaime Kazekage, and Kaiyo's for killing comrades. I think they would want to leave us to keep us safe. What would Iruka-sensei say if three former members of Akatsuki came out to congratulate us for passing tomorrow's test?"

"Yeah," Satsu, said backing his best friend up before slapping Ryo across the back of the head. "And why'd ya call me an idiot, you money freak?"

"Because you're just as much an idiot as Hidan," Ryo said smugly, recovering way to fast from that hit.

"Really? Well at least I have a good name," Satsu growled. "Who names their son after money?"

"Who names their son 'murder'?" Ryo asked, with a chuckle.

"Why you!" Satsu reached back for his scythe and Ryo's stitching was beginning to come undone. But before either of them could do anything, chakra strings held them in place. Both looked over at Fukyu, who was just standing beside Takumi. The mini-bomber was trying to contain his laughter as Fukyu made them dance a little. Satsu felt his face turn the color of one of Ryo's fire jutsus.

"Fukyu, cut that out!" he screeched as the puppeteer began giggling. "That's it, you're toast when I get outta these things!"

"I'm with the idiot," Ryo said, straining against the threads.

"Fukyu, let them go," Yume said, sternly.

The redhead sighed and released the strings, allowing Satsu to waste no time in swinging his new weapon at her head while Ryo began making signs for a small Katon jutsu. Fukyu managed to jump back towards Kaiyo, who drew her blade in preparation for a fight.

"Enough!" Yume thundered. "Fukyu, you should know not to play with Satsu's temper."

"Hai, Yume-sama," she said, trying not to giggle. "But…it's funny when he turns red like that and we all know it."

Satsu was fuming. You could almost see the flames and steam coming out of his ears. Yes, he had a blushing problem. He'd had it since birth and Hidan knew about it. When he was made fun of or really embarrassed, his face flushed bright red. And since he had the largest temper out of all of the members, he got embarrassed very easily about small things. He was glad that none of them teased him about it.

"Now go home and get some rest," Yume said. "We need to pass this exam tomorrow or else we'll have to wait another year to become legal Shinobi. We will not contact our parents until we are ready to be tested on our abilities. Then we can leave this village and go after Madara. One rule though…you are not to reveal the identity of your or anyone else's parents, at least not until we are ready to go public. Are there any questions?"

Silence filled the room.

"In that case, sayonara, Yume-sama," Kaiyo said before she walked back up the stairs. Ryo, Fukyu, and Takumi followed her silently.

Satsu blinked when he had been left behind and cursed under his breath, hoping Yume wouldn't hear him. Unfortunately, she did hear him and turned around to face him.

"Something wrong, Satsu?" she asked.

"Uh," he choked. Damn it, why did he get this way around his Leader? What did she have that made him freeze up and act like an idiot? He was going to be an official Shinobi tomorrow and start killing like his father did. So why was this happening? At least he wasn't blushing like crazy.

"Satsu?" Yume asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Oh, uh, I just wanted to, uh…volunteer to help you break the genjutsu," he said as convincingly as he could muster.

Yume gave the ghost of a smile as she turned back to Konan. "I appreciate the offer, Satsu. But I know genjutsu isn't your forte. Here, use this to go home and rest up."

She turned around again and made a simple hand sign. "**Juryoton: Noritan no Burakkuhoru" (Gravity Release: Black Hole of No Return),**

To her right, the space began to distort into a swirling vortex. It was one of her special jutsus that she had based off a Sharingan jutsu called the **Kamui. **It functioned as a way of getting around or transporting objects from one sport to another if you wanted to use it that way, but mainly it was an sealing jutsu that could be used to imprison enemies inside a black hole dimension. He remembered how he'd seen her use it before in battle and it was pretty dangerous.

"T-thank you, Yume-sama," he said as he walked towards the black hole that would take him to his apartment.

"Goodnight, Satsu," she smiled before turning back to Konan.

"Y-you too, Yume-sama," he said as he close enough to the vortex to be sucked in. A literal millisecond later, he popped out in his own room as the area of infinite gravity closed behind him. Quickly, he grabbed a whetstone and some metal cleaning tools and set to work polishing off the rust that had accumulated on his new weapon.

**OKAY IF ANY OF YOU ARE CONFUSED, EVERYTHING WILL BE EXPLAINED IN THE NEXT FEW CHAPTERS. ALSO, TO ANY ITACHI FANS OUT THERE; I AM SO SORRY, BUT I CAN'T SEE ITACHI AS THE KIND OF GUY WHO WOULD WANT TO HAVE A KID BECAUSE OF HIS GOAL OF DYING BY SASUKE'S HAND. IT SEEMED KINDA CRUEL OF HIM TO PUT A KID THROUGH THE KIND OF TORMENT HE PUT SASUKE THROUGH IF HE STILL WANTED TO DIE. BUT STILL PLEASE REVIEW! I NEED LOTS OF REVIEWS!**

**JA NE, EVERYONE!**


	3. Testing Exams and Patience

Chapter Three: Testing Exams and Patience:

**THREE CHAPTERS IN THE SAME DAY…I'M A MACHINE AREN'T I? ANYWAY, I HOPE THIS CONTINUES TO PLEASE THE MASSES! **

**I AM OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS, EITHER OC'S OR PLOT IDEAS. I LOVE GETTING BOTH!**

**ENJOY!**

TIMESKIP FROM LAST CHAPTER: NEXT MORNING IN FRONT OF THE ACADEMY

(Satsu's POV…I'm gonna give it a shot…tell me if I fail)

I yawned and stretched as I waited for the rest of the Akatsuki to come. I had a nasty habit of always waking up really early no matter what time I went to bed, which usually meant that I was tired in the middle of the day. But thankfully, I had been able to get home quick and go to bed pretty fast so I was well rested for today's Genin test.

"Satsu!"

It was Kaiyo who called my name. She had left her sword at home since Genin normally didn't carry around full-tang katana blades. She ran up the path next to me and leaned against the tree.

"Where's your scythe?" she asked.

I patted my pocket, where I had a storage scroll placed.

"I had an idea for a prank to play on sensei," I told her, pulling close so I could whisper in her ear

After I told her what I had planned, she broke into a full scale grin. "Satsu, that's awesome!" she said, giggling frantically. "Iruka-sensei will have an absolute heart attack when he sees that!"

"Yeah!" I laughed. "We should tell Takumi, Fukyu, and Ryo as well and get them in on it."

"What about Yume-sama?" she asked.

I paused. Normally, I'd be all for having another person in on pranks, but Yume-sama might not approve of this one.

"We can do it without her," I smirked. "After all, we all know that pranking people is best left to grunts like us, am I right?"

She smirked, showing off her sharp teeth that she usually kept under a **Henge** when we were in school. "Definitely right," she chuckled. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun."

ANOTHER TIMESKIP: INSIDE THE CLASSROOM!

(Back to Third Person POV)

The students inside were throwing one of their normal talking fests. It was so loud that you could barely hear Iruka trying to get them into order. The only ones who weren't talking a lot were the junior Akatsuki, who had formed a protective circle around their leader, who sat calmly in the middle of the circle while her subordinates did their own thing. Satsu was praying under his breath and trying to not draw his own blood for a ritual. Ryo was fiddling with an abacus and trying to balance his checkbook for the third time that morning. Takumi and Fukyu were trying not to fight about art and were settling for muttering the words "fleeting" and "eternal" back and forth under their breath. Kaiyo was sharpening a kunai, checking its edge every once in a while against her thumb. Yume just sat comfortably, reading a mythology book about the Sage of the Six Paths while trying to tune out the chaos in the room.

"Good morning, Yume-chan!"

The five Akatsuki not engrossed in literature turned and glared at the speaker. It was Hiroshi Hyuuga, the class's 'genius.' He looked like any other Hyuuga to all of them, but he still claimed that he was superior to all of the other students. Even though he already had an army of fan girls, he was always showing off to Yume, trying to get her attention and to join the ranks of his fan girl army. She didn't feel anything towards him, as she had "better things to think about than boys like him."

"Yume-chan, are you ready to take the test?" he asked.

Yume didn't answer him; she just turned a page in her book, much to Hiroshi's annoyance. He scowled and tried to force his way past the circle, pushing aside the two artists who were still arguing about the true power and meaning of art.

"Yume-chan, did you hear me?" he asked, reaching out to grab her shoulder.

Quicker than any of them had ever seen him move, Satsu reached out and caught Hiroshi's wrist before he could even touch Yume. The classroom went silent as everyone looked at Satsu, who just stood there with Hiroshi's arm in his grip. The tension was so thick that you could have sliced it to bits. Iruka swallowed at the front of the classroom and cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention as Satsu dropped Hiroshi's arm.

"Okay then," he said. "We will now start our Genin Exams. The written test begins right now, so take your exam and once you have completed the test, raise your hand and I will come collect it."

Iruka passed out the exams and the room went silent as everyone began writing. Satsu ginned and easily answered all the questions. As per Yume's orders, they had already stolen previous exams and pieced together what this exam would be. This would also be their tactic in the Chunin Exams as well. Not to mention that the questions were so easy to them.

Half an hour passed and Yume raised her hand.

"Sensei, I'm done," she said.

Iruka nodded. "Good job, Yume," he smiled.

A few other kids finished as well before Fukyu did. Takumi followed her right away. Ryo took his time and finished a few minutes after the mini-bomber. Satsu glanced at Kaiyo, who was handing in her paper. She indiscreetly looked at the clock and then back to him with a small grin before leaving. He scowled and furiously wrote down the answers to the last few questions before raising his hand.

"Iruka-sensei, I'm finished," he said as Iruka walked over and collected his test.

"Okay, Satsu," the scar-faced Chunin said. "You've got twenty minutes before we do the **Henge** test."

As he walked out, Satsu smirked to himself. Oh, he was going to enjoy this. Outside the classroom, the rest of them had gathered back in the same formation as inside while Yume just continued to read her book.

"Has Kaiyo told you guys about the prank?" he asked.

They all grinned, except for Yume, who was still reading.

"Then you guys have to know that we all have to do it at the same time, got it?" Kaiyo said with a grin.

"This is going to be great," Takumi nodded while Ryo chuckled.

"Iruka's going to have a heart attack," he said to Satsu.

"Well, don't say it like you're gonna to take his heart," he snickered. "You've already got five, and we all know you can't handle six. You'd have a heart attack…and I wonder what it looks like with five hearts?"

Ryo scowled at him. "You talk too much," he growled as Fukyu giggled.

Iruka poked his head out of the door and into the hallway. "Okay everyone," he said. "We will now begin the **Henge** test. Everyone come inside and take your seats."

The new Akatsuki grinned and rushed inside, eager to begin. Satsu was about to go inside when he felt a pulling sensation on his back. He looked behind him as Yume stood up and fixed her amber eyes on his magenta ones.

"Satsu," she said. "I'm having a little trouble with going along with your prank."

He swallowed. Oh boy, here it comes! He was going to get it now!

"H-hai, Yume-sama?" he said.

"Yes, I'm having difficulty choosing who to use for the prank," she said. "Either my Tou-san or my Kaa-san. Who do you think I should use?"

He blinked. Yume Uzumaki was going to help him with a prank? His fearless, deadly serious leader and master of the **Juryoton** was going to give their sensei a heart attack? He wasn't expecting that. It was almost as if…

_She wouldn't do that,_ he thought.

"Satsu?" she asked, and he realized how close she was to him as she waved her hand in front of his eyes.

_Don't blush, don't blush, don't blush!_ he begged himself as he blinked and came back from his thoughts. "Uh, I'd go with Pain-sama," he said. "He did destroy this whole village, right? So he would be the ideal choice."

She smiled. "Alright, Tou-san it is," she said. "Come on, let's get started," she said.

She dragged him inside as a faint pink lined his cheeks. She was touching him so…casually. Usually, she kept her distance from all of them, giving orders and guidance through the missions they took to gain revenue for their organization. She really never interacted with them that much.

He was jarred out of his thoughts when Yume sat down and pulled him into the seat next to her. His eyes snapped open when he realized that he was sitting next to the most powerful Shinobi he'd ever met as if they were…he didn't even finish that sentence, it was just to impossible.

"Satsu?" Iruka asked. "You look a little red in the face, are you okay?"

"Huh, wha, oh, yeah I'm fine, sensei," he said while Fukyu and Takumi giggled in their seats. He shot them an "I'll fucking sacrifice you if you don't shut up," look, which made the two of them quiet down.

"Well, if you say so," Iruka said. "Okay, come up to the front of the room in groups of two and **Henge** into the person right next to you. I will then come around and judge the jutsus quality."

The junior Akatsuki barely held in their giggles as they got up. Right away, they jumped into the pairings that had best suited their parents: Ryo and Satsu's Zombie Combo, Takumi and Fukyu's Art Combo, and Kaiyo and Yume's Truth of Pain Combo. These were their teams normally, but they knew when they hit Genin they would have to add another member to their units or be alone with two new people. None of them liked the idea of teaming up with new people, especially Ryo and Satsu. Everyone knew that Ryo might kill his new teammates if they pissed him off and Satsu might sacrifice his if he felt like it. It was the reason that they worked together, since neither of them could actually kill the other. But the two of them would kill their teammates if they so much as slowed them down a tiny bit.

"Ready?" Iruka said. "Go!"

Puffs of smoke filled the room. Iruka walked around, checking everyone's jutsus off on a clipboard as either "excellent," "passable" or "fail." Soon he came to Ryo at Satsu's group and waved aside the smoke. Right away, he dropped the clipboard and started shaking. Magenta and green/red eyes stared into his own, as Hidan and Kakuzu emerged from the smoke cloud in full Akatsuki robes, an insane grin plastered across Hidan's face.

"So…the jutsu has finally come undone?" Kakuzu said in his gravelly voice, while Hidan began to chuckle.

"About fucking time!" he cackled. "Now I can sacrifice these fucking heathen children!"

The rest of the class screamed as there was another poof and a mop of blonde hair emerged from the smoke cloud.

"Yes!" Deidara said as Sasori walked out from the cloud as well. "You ready to show off our art, eh Sasori no Danna, hmmm?"

"Whatever, brat," Sasori said in a bored voice. "Maybe I can add that Chunin to my collection of puppets?"

"No I'm going to sacrifice him to Jashin-sama!" Hidan shouted at the puppet-man. "So stay out of my way, wood-for-brains, or I'll kill you too!"

Iruka turned as white as a piece of paper as another poof sounded. This time, a massive blue-skinned man with a shark-like appearance made his presence known. Kisame Hoshigaki grinned at the children, who were cowering at their desks.

"Now I guess the gang's all here," he laughed as Hidan stalked towards Iruka.

There was an incredibly loud poof of smoke and they all turned to where Yume was standing. The rest of the Akatsuki grinned and bowed their heads.

"Pain-sama," they all said at the same time.

The Deva Path of Pain walked out into the classroom, his facial piercings gleaming menacingly as his Rinnegan eyes swept the room and fixed on Iruka, who had fallen on his butt and was cowering in front of Hidan.

"Wha?" he asked when he saw Pain. "I thought Naruto defeated you!"

"You cannot defeat pain forever," he said as he stared down at the scarred Chunin. "It will come back slowly over time, like me. And now…you shall know…true pain!"

"Kill me," he said. "Just leave the children alone, they didn't do anything."

"Foolish Konaha Shinobi," Pain said. "They too shall know pain. Hidan…do what you want with the children."

Hidan cackled loudly and jumped on top of a Hiroshi's desk, making the Hyuuga cringe and then scowl as his fan girl sitting next to him passed out with a scream. "So this one thinks he can stand up to me?" he laughed. "Jashin-sama is going to love you as a sacrifice!"

"You are nothing before the might of the Hyuuga Main Family," he said, cockily. "And neither is this Jashin-teme you speak of."

Hidan completely lost it swearing as he grabbed a kunai from his pouch and pinned Hiroshi to the table by his sleeve, making the pale-eyed boy yelp in fear.

"I'm going to take my time killing you for insulting Jashin-sama," he growled. "But first, I wanna see Leader-sama kill your teacher!"

Iruka looked like he was ready to shit himself when the room went completely silent and Pain extended his hand like he was going to use his **Shinra Tensei**. Suddenly…Pain chuckled, which turned into a full blown laugh. The rest of the Akatsuki laughed as well, but they were using different voices. They sounded like they were…children. Suddenly, Pain disappeared in a puff of smoke and Yume was standing there in front of Iruka, clutching her stomach as she doubled over laughing. The rest of the Akatsuki poofed out as well, leaving Satsu, Ryo, Takumi, Fukyu, and Kaiyo in their places. They too were laughing to an extreme, like how Satsu was rolling around on Hiroshi's desk with tears streaming down his eyes.

"Sensei…you should have seen your face!" Yume choked as she helped him up. "Satsu…that was the most fun I've had in a _long_ time!"

Iruka was fuming as he stood up to his full height and used his **Big-Headed Teacher Jutsu **on them all.

"THAT WAS A PRANK?" he thundered at the laughing students. "YOU SERIOUSLY SCARED EVRYONE IN HERE WITH THAT CHILDISH JOKE! THAT'S UNNACCEPTABLE AND YOU COULD HAVE BEEN _KILLED_ IF THERE WERE ANY NINJA IN HERE WHO THOUGHT YOU WERE AKATSUKI!"

He ended the jutsu and rubbed the back of his normal-sized head. "Although I have to give you credit for that one. No one besides Naruto has been able to pull off a prank of that magnitude."

He sighed and wrote down "excellent" for all of them on his clipboard. "Alright, now we will have the kunai and shuriken portion of the test outside, then lunch, then the **kawarmii** and **Bunshin** tests."

As the classroom emptied while the students left, Hiroshi and Satsu exchanged brief, but heated glances. Soon they were left alone in the classroom with Takumi and Fukyu still giggling.

"Did you see Hiroshi's face when Yume said Satsu could kill him?" Kaiyo snickered as they all walked outside.

"I think sensei's face was better when he thought that she was going to blast him," Ryo chuckled.

"Satsu, you're a genius for coming up with this," Takumi said. "That was almost as much fun as my art."

"Aw, come on guys," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Give yourselves some credit, all I did was freak out Hiroshi."

This conversation went on into the kunai tests, where each of them passed with Satsu getting top marks thanks to the practice lessons his dad had given him about how to draw blood from an opponent using long-ranged weapons. After the last person had gone, Iruka announced lunchtime and each person got their bento boxes. Satsu took his and went over to Ryo, who was shuffling a deck of cards.

"What are we playing today?" he asked his friend, who began dealing right away.

"Five card flop sound okay to you?" Ryo said casually as Satsu dug a few coins out of his pocket.

"Fine with me," Satsu said as he took his cards and looked them over, eating a mouthful of his lunch as he went over his hand.

Their game went on all through lunch, and Ryo ended up taking every cent that Satsu had on him. As much as it was a habit for them to play cards at lunch, it was even more of a habit for Ryo to take every bit of cash that Satsu had. Neither of them minded, since the bounty missions they took as a team ended up being more than enough for them, even when they spit the dough. They just enjoyed playing with each other, not caring about the money they won or lost.

"What were you guys playing?" Yume asked as Ryo put the cards away.

"Poker," the masked boy said. "Yume-sama, not to be rude, but why are you acting this way?"

Satsu nodded as he looked at the redhead. Yume just sighed and sat down on the grass in between them. "We need to make it look like we are regular children until we are strong enough to reveal ourselves to the world," she said. "Until then, we need to do this or risk being found out and interrogated about our parent's whereabouts."

"Hai, Yume-sama," Satsu said.

Yume looked at him with a small smile on her face. "Satsu, you guys can't call me Yume-sama in front of people," she said. "Address me as Yume-chan for now."

"Hai, Yume…chan," he said, feeling extremely awkward.

Yume smiled again and walked towards Kaiyo, Fukyu, and Takumi, who were in the middle of an art argument where it looked like Takumi was ready to bring out his clay to prove his point. Satsu watched her go and Ryo chuckled.

"You have a thing for her, don't you?" he asked.

"I will kill you, Ryo," Satsu said without looking at him.

"Sure, sure," he sighed. "I won't tell her."

"You'd better not," he growled as he walked back into the classroom.

The rest of the class filed in and right away began the next test: the **kawarmii. **To them it was just very boring to see people try to substitute themselves out for other people, but it was funny to see their class's deadlast fail to even move while he spent all of his chakra into the technique and pass out on the floor. Each of them successfully substituted themselves with Iruka, who told them not to try any other kind of funny business for the rest of the day. Needless to say, they all passed flawlessly.

"Okay, good job to all of you so far," he smiled at them. "Now we have our final portion of the exam where we see if you are ready to become Genin or not. You must produce four regular **Bunshins **or a clone of your choice to pass this portion of the exam. First up, Takumi."

The mini bomber ran up to the front of the classroom.

"Sensei, I'll be doing a jutsu that I've put a lot of effort into, hmm," he said.

"Okay, go for it," Iruka said as he wrote on his clipboard**. **

With a grin, he unnoticeably reached back into the pouch of clay he had secured behind him. Grabbing four small lumps, his palms began chewing up the clay and infusing chakra into them. He made a sign and there was a poof from around him. When the smoke cleared there were four life-sized copies of him, but it wasn't a regular clone jutsu.

**"Nendo Bunshin no Jutsu (Clay Clone Jutsu),"** he said with a smirk.

Iruka's eyes widened as the saw the product of Takumi's special training. The rest of them were slightly on edge, knowing that Takumi could have just as easily made his signature **Jibaku Bunshins (Suicide Bombing Clones)** and start turning the entire classroom into art. Thankfully, he restrained himself and returned to his seat, twitching about not being able to show off his artistic talents. Iruka called more kids before Kaiyo went, making four **Mizu Bunshins** in place of a regular Bunshin. Fukyu went later, making regular clones and passing. Yume and Ryo did the same and just went back to what they were doing before. The rest of the class went, with Hiroshi struggling a little maintain his clones at the beginning, but still managing to pass.

"And lastly, Satsu," Iruka called.

Satsu stopped his muttered chanting and yawned. He then hopped off his chair and over to Iruka. Making the hand sign, he called his clones into existence, each of them looking bored and annoyed.

"Okay, good job," Iruka said as he wrote down on his clipboard. "When I call your name, come up here and take your headband. Then you can leave for the rest of the day, but make sure you get here early tomorrow for your team selections. Yume."

Yume smiled as she came up and took her headband, tying it around her forehead.

"Now Satsu," he said.

Smirking, Satsu tied his loosely around his throat like how Hidan wore his.

"Kaiyo."

Kaiyo settled for putting hers on a slant above her right eye.

"Fukyu."

The puppeteer tied hers around her bicep and sat down without another word, leaving Iruka to sweatdrop awkwardly.

"Ryo."

You could see the corners of his mouth curve up under the cloth of his mask as he accepted the forehead protector and tied it around his head.

"Takumi."

The mini bomber just took his and ran to the doors where the rest of them were leaving the room. They walked out of the academy and began to split up into their teams. Satsu was deep in thought for some reason as he and Ryo walked through the village. Ryo noticed this but didn't say anything. Whatever Satsu was thinking it wasn't his business.

"Wanna go spar?" he asked out of the blue.

Ryo shook his head. "I have some personal business to do," he said.

"Like what?" Satsu asked. "Wait, does it involve your money?"

Ryo nodded and Satsu sighed. He waved Ryo goodbye before running into an abandoned training ground and unsealing his scythe, attaching the cable spool to his hip he faced the dummies at the other side and charged them with a smirk. Whoever their Jonin sensei was, he or she was going to be in for the surprise of his/her life with him on their team.


	4. Sensei-tional Teamwork Excercises

Chapter 4: Sensei-tional Teamwork Exercises.

**CHAPTER 4 AND I'M STILL GOING STRONG! SUGGESTIONS ARE STILL WELCOME FOR ALL AND I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE THEM FROM ALL YOU LOVELY READERS OUT THERE. TELL ME WHAT YOU LIKE OR DON'T LIKE, BUT NO FLAMES PLEASE. THEY MAKE ME SAD….**

**ON WITH THE STORY!**

Satsu stood out in front of the school alone again with his thoughts. He was really bored now since he was right on time for once and not early. Turns out doing a ritual before breakfast helped balance out his schedule enough not to show up half an hour early. The downside to this was the incredible boredom he felt. Leaning against a tree, sighed as he felt a slight pull to his right.

"Good morning Yume-sama," he told her as she finished exiting the black hole.

She nodded at him and sat down against the tree with a sigh. "My Kaa-san is awake now," she said. "She's gone to meet up with the others."

"That's good," he said with a nod.

She turned and looked up at him. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"No, I'm fine," he shrugged. "A little bored, I guess."

She giggled. "Ryo's told me that whenever you get bored, you go pick a fight," she said.

He shrugged and looked up at the morning sky. "It's how my Tou-san taught me to handle myself," he said before looking down at her. "What about you, Yume-sama? What do you do when you're bored?"

She closed her eyes and smiled, as if she was remembering something. "What do I do when I'm bored," she said. "Well, I usually go meditate in a special place I have out in the woods until I feel calm. Then I practice my jutsu until my chakra is low."

He nodded at her answer but then she looked at him strangely after looking around to see if they were alone. "How long has it been since you've killed someone?" she asked in a whisper.

"Uh, since the last bounty mission you sent us on," he said, rubbing the back of his head.

"That's why you're uncomfortable, isn't it?" she asked.

He paused a little before nodding slightly. "I haven't made sacrifice in over a month," he said. "Jashin-sama must be annoyed with me."

She nodded, understandingly and closed her eyes again. "We'll be going on missions soon enough," she said. "Then you can go nuts on whoever you want to."

He grinned and sat down next to her hard. "You mean it?" he said like a little kid whose parents told him he could buy whatever he wanted to in a candy shop.

She grinned, knowing how important his religion was. "It's not like we actually need the mission money," she said. "And I've already told Ryo he can kill anyone on a mission who brings in a decent bounty."

"Even the customer?" he asked.

"Is he's an asshole, then why not?" she smiled.

Satsu knew that was a joke. Yume never liked killing, preferring to leave it to him and Ryo when she could, since they were the best at it. Fukyu and Takumi were their demolitions team, he and Ryo were their assassination team, and she and Kaiyo were the strong members thanks to Yume's special chakra and Kaiyo's monstrous reserves. She knew how it was necessary sometimes, but if she could avoid killing she would. She had developed special jutsus that were designed for capture only while some others were designed to kill. Those were her last resort, just like his full **Shiji Hyoketsu**, which was stabbing himself through the heart for a kill. He had found other ways to do the ritual-jutsu, but none of them were quick ends and took time before the victim died from blood loss.

"Ohayo, Yume-sama, hmm," Takumi said as he and Fukyu ran up. "Ready for our teams?"

"We'd better be," Kaiyo grumbled as she jumped off the roof with Ryo behind her. "The sooner we become real ninjas, the sooner I can search for Samehada."

"Is that all you think about?" Ryo grumbled as Fukyu giggled.

Yume nodded. "We will have to be separated in our new teams," she reminded them. "So in order to survive, make sure to build teamwork and trust between your other team members and sensei's. We will reveal ourselves at the Chunin exams, so keep your abilities hidden from everyone. If you're found out, silence anyone you need to."

Takumi raised his hand. "When do we get our robes?" he asked.

"After the exams," she said. "Now, good luck to everyone. After you're done, report to the hideout for a meeting. Make sure to stay safe. Even if we are stronger than our classmates, there are ninja out there who are stronger than us."

There was a chorus of "Hai!" from the assembled Akatsuki and they all ran to check their teams on the roster outside the classroom. Satsu scrolled down the list of teams until he saw his name on Team 8.

"Jonin sensei is…" his eyes suddenly widened and he swallowed hard when he saw the name. "K-K-Kurenai Yuhi?"

He was fucked. Kurenai Yuhi, the Genjutsu Mistress of Konaha was the wife of Asuma Sarutobi and the mother of his child, the same Asuma who his father had killed three months ago. Oh, Jashin-sama must really have been annoyed with him to do this. If she figured out who he was, then there was a chance that not even Ryo could buy him out of this one. A little scared, he looked at who his teammates were. It was some girl who he had never heard of and…YES! Ryo was on his team, his fellow immortal, Akatsuki partner, and (grudgingly) best friend. Maybe this could work out.

He scanned the rest of the list to find out the only ones who had been split up from their partnership were Yume and Kaiyo. The two artists were together, and would no doubt find a way to drive their teammate and sensei crazy with their arguments. He shook his head with a small smile as he felt Ryo's chakra signature approach him from behind.

"Same team as me," he shrugged.

Ryo scowled behind his mask, obviously not happy about this on the surface.

"Oh, gimme a break, Ryo," he said. "I'm not _that_ bad of a partner, am I?"

"At least you won't be able to do one of your time-wasting rituals on the missions," he said gruffly. "Come on, we need to get to training field seven to meet the rest of the team."

"You know that means you won't be able to take bounty missions either," Satsu smirked.

"Of course I know that!" he snapped back. "Why do you think I'm frustrated?"

Satsu shrugged and put his hands behind his head. "Point taken," he sighed. "So what do we do about the other girl on the team?"

"We work with her," he said, not looking at him. "If she becomes a burden, then we kill her."

Satsu nodded and the two of them walked a little longer in silence before Satsu decided to speak up again. "Our sensei is the wife of Asuma Sarutobi," he said.

"Then she's worth something as a teacher," Ryo said under his mask.

"No, I mean if she or anyone on that heathen's old team recognizes us, then we're toast," he said back. "How do we fool her? She's excellent at sensing and using genjutsu, so she'll be able to tell if we're lying."

"Then don't lie," he said.

Satsu just groaned and shook his head. "Man, you really must be pissed off," he said.

"What was your first clue, you religious idiot?"

"Hey, fuck you, heathen!"

This little back-and-forth continued the entire walk to the training ground, where they found their other teammate already sitting there under a tree. Ryo groaned and Satsu facepalmed when they saw her. She was wearing no Shinobi clothes at all, only her headband and a leg holster. She had shiny gold hair that was waist long and silky as well as glittery green eye makeup and mascara. She was also doing her nails a bright pink. They both knew her type from the academy: a fangirl. But the question was…whose fangirl?

"Fuck this shit!" Satsu groaned and grabbed his forehead while going for one of his ritual pikes. "A fangirl? Jashin-sama, I'm sorry I haven't given you a sacrifice for a while and I promise to make it up but _please_ stop tormenting me!"

Ryo punched him in the head quickly before he could bring out the pike. "Stop talking about your religion in front of other people, idiot," he growled.

"Fuck you, Ryo!" he yelled, getting the girl's attention. She looked at them both and made a brief face at their appearances; Satsu's eyes and hair as well as Ryo's skin tone and eyes. She quickly dropped the face and stood up with a smile that they all knew was all to fake.

"So you guys must be my new teammates, huh?" she said politely. "I'm Riku Mori. Pleased to make your acquaintances."

"Ryo," he grunted. "No surname."

"I'm Satsu," Satsu said blankly.

Riku nodded and kept up with her fake smile. "So when is our sensei going to be here?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, Kurenai is with her baby at the moment," said a new voice. "She has asked me to be your teacher for the day."

Each of them turned around to see a Jonin in a black bandana and glasses walking towards them from the other side of the training grounds. "I am Ebisu," he said. "And I will be administering your Genin test."

"Test?" Riku asked. "I already passed the test, what are you talking about?"

Ebisu pushed his glasses up his nose and looked at her with a blank expression. "That was just a test to see who would be most likely to become Genin," he said. "This test is to see if you have what it takes to _remain_ Genin. Fail, and you will be sent back to the academy."

Riku swallowed while Satsu and Ryo just rolled their eyes. "Whatever, let's just get this fuckin show on the road," Satsu said.

Ebisu twitched at his language, but dismissed it. "Very well, let's start," he grinned and dropped into a fighting stance.

Ryo and Satsu took their own taijutsu stances while Riku just stood there. Ebisu cocked an eyebrow at her.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "They can fight you," she said. "I bruise easily, so I'd rather not fight."

Satsu facepalmed again and Ryo sighed. Ebisu just smirked.

"But I didn't tell you what the test was yet," he said. "The objective is to just subdue me for five seconds, and I won't be actually fighting back. All I do is avoid being captured."

Riku perked at that and dropped into the Academy-style taijutsu next to Ryo. "Alright then, but don't think we're going to go easy on you," she warned.

Ebisu just laughed and beckoned for them to come. Ryo nodded at Satsu, who smirked evilly.

"Let's get this party started!" he yelled and rushed towards Ebisu while Ryo followed closely behind in his shadow, out of Ebisu's field of vision. Riku just stood there. "Wait, guys!" she screeched. "We need a plan of attack!"

"That's his plan," Ryo said without looking backwards.

"ATTACK!" Satsu laughed as he brought out a kunai and swung it at Ebisu's stomach.

Smirking, Ebisu twisted away from the kunai, but landed right into the path of Ryo's fist. The two started fighting, kicking and blocking sporadically, Ryo trying to find and opening while Ebisu tried to counter him. Ryo smirked underneath his mask and suddenly disengaged from his assault, much to Ebisu's surprise, flipping back to a safe distance.

"Why'd you stop?" Riku whined from behind. "You had him on the ropes! A few more minutes and you could have beaten him!"

"That's the point," he said. "I might be able to win if I dragged this out long enough, but that's not the point of this exercise. He wants us to come at him together and take him down, which means we have to work together and take him down quickly."

Ebisu's eyes widened when he heard this from behind his glasses. _He figured it out already? How?_ "He's right you know," he said after clearing his throat. "That's the only way you'll defeat an elite like myself."

Ryo grinned beneath his mask. "If you're so elite, then you would have noticed the kunai at your neck three seconds ago," he said.

Right behind Ebisu, with said kunai, was Satsu. A crazy grin was across his face when Ebisu turned his head to see what Ryo was talking about. "Gotcha," he said. "You lose, Ebisu-sensei."

Ebisu grinned back. "Not yet, I haven't," he said.

POOF!

When the smoke cleared, Satsu was standing with a kunai to the air.

"WHA?" he yelled. "A shadow clone? Are you fucking _kidding _me?"

"I admit, that was a good trick," Ebisu said from behind them. "Hiding behind Satsu as he charged to distract my attention long enough for him to slip away during the fight and ambush me…I never expected you Genin to be able to use a trick within a trick."

Satsu snarled and Ryo scowled. "Usually that little combo of ours works like a charm," he mused. "We'll have to step it up a notch."

"Can I kill him?" Satsu asked, hopefully.

Ebisu chuckled. "I doubt you could even touch me again," he laughed.

Satsu fumed and Ryo could see him getting red in the face. The Jonin had a point, though. At their current level of skill and without the others to back them up _on top of the fact_ that they couldn't showcase their abilities without blowing their cover, it would be very difficult to even touch him. Not to mention that they had a dead-weight fangirl holding them back. Unless….

"Satsu, back me up," he said, jarring the Jashinist from his thoughts.

"You got it," he grinned, pulling out a set of six shuriken and holding them in his fingers.

Ryo charged forwards while Satsu jumped into the trees and landed on a branch. Quickly, he threw the shuriken he had one at a time before jumping off the branch behind them with a kunai his grip. Ebisu easily deflected five of the skuriken, but nearly got hit by the last one as he tried to dodge Ryo's ground assault. He cackled loudly and dove down at Ebisu with a drop kick, ready to swipe at the Jonin's face when he either caught or blocked the kick.

He never got the chance to even connect. Ryo, using a bit of speed, erased the distance between the two of them and drove his fist into Ebisu's gut, knocking the Jonin back as he attacked. Landing on the ground and charging right in, Satsu's eyes widened when he figured out Ryo's strategy.

_He can't block both of us at the same time!_ He realized, kicking at Ebisu's knees in an attempt to cripple him as Ryo threw a punch at his head. _If we throw out attacks at the same time, then we'll at least hit him once!_

Ebisu blocked the punch to his head but gasped when he felt Satsu's foot connect with his knee, knocking him down onto one leg. Grabbing his shoulder as a launching point, Satsu jumped away and threw a kick to the jaw, which only managed to graze the chin as Ebisu bent his head away, only to feel Ryo's leg hit his stomach.

"So that's your weakness, eh?" he smirked as Ryo flipped back. "Each time we attack, you have to choose which to block and which to connect. You can't block both of them at once."

"And at this rate with your leg weakened from Satsu's kick," Ryo said, smugly, "you won't be able to keep up with our next few attacks."

Ebisu chuckled and shakily stood to his feet. "I admit, you two are good," he said. "You work together very well with your attacks. But can you work well with Riku? You need to if you want to pass this test."

"Enough talk!" Satsu said, rushing forwards again as Ryo charged behind him. "Let's fight!"

Ebisu grinned and then stiffened as a kunai found its way around his neck. Satsu and Ryo skidded to a halt in front of him. Riku smirked and looped her arm around Ebisu's neck in a choke hold while the Jonin smiled.

"We win," she said. "The second you try to get out of this hold, those two will attack. If you try to move, I cut your throat. And I know this is the real you because you didn't poof out when Satsu broke your knee."

Ebisu smile increased and he held up his hands. "You three work together well enough," he said, fixing his glasses. "You pass."

Satsu smirked and retrieved his fallen weapons while Ryo nodded. Riku slid off Ebisu's back and sheathed her kunai with a smile. "That wasn't too hard," she said in a holier-than-thou tone.

"Easy for you to say," Ryo scowled. "You did nothing at all. Satsu and I could have finished him together."

"But the point of this was to work together," she said, smoothly. "Besides, you two wouldn't have passed without me."

At that very moment Satsu was using every last bit of self-control he had to keep himself from killing the girl. She was a useless Shinobi with literally no talent aside from wasting time and taking credit. He could tell that Ryo was thinking the same thing by the way his right hand was clenched tight. Riku didn't notice either of them and just turned away with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Oh well," she sighed. "I guess you two are lucky to have me on the team."

"Say, WHAT!?" Satsu yelled.

"Calm down, you baka," Ryo snapped. "We passed, it's over, let's go."

"Yes, well," Ebisu said, feeling awkward as he witnessed this. "Kurenai will meet you all in the Hokage's office for your first mission tomorrow at eight o'clock sharp. Don't be late."

He disappeared in a quick **Shunshin** as Ryo and Satsu turned and walked away in the opposite direction of Riku.

"We're gonna kill her soon, right?" he asked.

Ryo nodded. "You can do it," he said. "I don't need a heart and I doubt anyone would pay money for her."

Satsu smirked as they walked off towards the Chunin Exam Stadium. "After the meeting, you want to get something to eat?" he asked.

"No thanks," he said, not making eye contact.

"You _really_ have to be a dick to me don't you?" Satsu sighed, putting his arms behind his head.

"And you always have to be annoying, to me don't you?" Ryo said.

"Hey, fuck you!" Satsu snapped, gaining a tick mark on his forehead.

Ryo sighed and looked at the sky as he walked. He didn't speak for the rest of the walk through the village, leaving Satsu very annoyed. As they reached the stadium, they saw a familiar mop of blonde hair and a dull gray trench coat walking along another path.

"Fukyu, Takumi!" Satsu yelled and ran ahead to catch up to the two artists. "What's up?"

The two turned around with exhausted looks on their faces, as if all the life had been drained from them. Takumi looked like he was ready to cry.

"Our new sensei is crazy, yeah!" he said. "He made us run around the village like fifteen times in twenty minutes!"

"He's a new Jonin sensei," Fukyu explained in a raspy voice. "His name is Rock Lee and he's obsessed with something called the "springtime of youth."

"He wants to make us wear these…_things!"_ Takumi nearly sobbed as he pulled out a bright green jumpsuit.

Satsu took one look at the green monstrosity that Takumi had in his grip and literally fell over backwards laughing, crying tears of joy as he rolled around clutching his stomach.

"Green…jumpsuit!" he howled as they all watched him. "Oh, that's _priceless!"_

"It's not funny, hmm!" he yelled back. "He's a slave driver!"

"I agree with him," Fukyu said with a slight shudder. "Our new teammate is just as frightened of him."

Ryo yanked Satsu to his feet and pushed him inside, his partner still giggling at the mini-bomber's misfortune. "We have a meeting, remember?" he reminded them. "We'd better not be late for it."

After Takumi released the blood seal, they quickly descended into the meeting hall, where Yume and Kaiyo were already standing. The former looked like she was royally pissed off at something or someone. Each of them automatically swallowed as they took their places on the circles.

"Now that we're all here, let's begin the meeting," Yume said with a slight growl. "Satsu and Ryo…what is your new team?"

"Our sensei is Kurenai Yuhi," Ryo said, "wife of Asuma Sarutobi and mother of his child. Our other teammate is just a useless fangirl named Riku Mori. I've already promised Satsu he could kill her…with your permission, Yume-sama."

"We passed our second Genin test," Satsu said. "Some stupid teamwork exercise against a Jonin named Ebisu. That's really it, Yume-sama."

Yume nodded and turned to Fukyu and Takumi, who quickly explained about Rock Lee and his crazy nature. Satsu loudly snorted when they showed the jumpsuits they were given and Kaiyo chuckled to herself slightly. Both them looked embarrassed beyond measure, but Yume stepped in before things could get any worse.

"What's his style?" she asked.

"Pure taijutsu, Yume-same," Fukyu said. "He has no ninjutsu abilities or offensive chakra skills whatsoever."

"Could you take him out?" she asked.

"Leave it to my art, yeah," Takumi smirked. "He wouldn't stand a chance against Aijin and me."

Yume nodded and turned to Kaiyo. "Your report?" she asked.

"Just a lazy Nara for a sensei and two guppies for teammates," she sighed with a casual shrug. "Both of them seem to be afraid of me."

"They have enough reason to be afraid," Ryo said.

Kaiyo turned to him with sweet smile. "Thank you, Ryo-kun," she said.

Satsu slowly looked at his partner with a cocked eyebrow. Ryo shot him a murderous glare back, making him grin.

"Nooo," he said slowly. "You and…"

"If you don't shut up right now, I'll make you," he said coldly. "There is nothing going on."

"Sure, sure," he said. "Ryo-_kun!"_

Ryo punched him in the back of the head, knocking him over onto his face. Before he could swear at him, Yume started speaking.

"I have a sensei named Asuya and my teammates are Hiroshi and one of his fangirls, Niji Haruno," she said.

_So that's what's she's pissed off about,_ Satsu realized with an understanding nod. Hiroshi was always annoying her and now having him on her team would make it impossible for her to get away from him. _She's really fuming…so Hiroshi must have done something pretty fucking stupid, even for him. _

"Our missions start tomorrow," Yume continued. "It'll be D-ranks for a while before we can get out and do real missions. Everyone do your best to hide your abilities until that time. Meeting adjourned."

Everyone nodded and walked away, except for Satsu, who waited patiently for Yume to notice that he was still there.

"Um, Yume-sama?" he asked.

She looked over her shoulder and saw he was still there. "What is it, Satsu?" she asked.

"Well…you seem kinda stressed out," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "And I was wondering if…well…you wanted to spar with me and blow off some steam."

Yume looked at him for a few seconds and turned around to fully face him. "Are you sure, Satsu?" she asked. "I mean…I don't want to hurt you."

He grinned. "You know that's never stopped me before, Yume-sama," he said, folding his arms behind his head. "Besides, I have a new technique I want to try out."

Yume smiled. "So do I," she said, making the hand sign for her **Noritan no Burakkuhoru (Black Hole of No Return)**.

Satsu felt his every molecule in his body warp and distort wildly as the black hole pulled him in and spit him out a second later. He took a brief look around at his surrounding, noting that he was standing on a vast sandy plain next to a deep canyon. The dusty ground beneath his feet was completely flat and devoid of plant life.

"This is the training ground I told you about earlier today," she said as she warped into existence next to him. "We're far enough away from the village to practice our techniques to the fullest without having anyone discover us."

"Wow," Satsu whistled, kneeling down to feel the sandy ground. "Did you do this?"

Yume nodded. "This was originally a field of boulders," she said with a small smile. "I was trying to use my jutsu on my shuriken and kunai and I accidentally did this."

"What jutsu did you use for this?' he asked.

Yume smiled and walked do she had her back to the canyon and face him. Still smiling, she raised her palm and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and her hand started to shake slightly.

**"Shinra Tensei! (Almighty Push!)" **she yelled and the next thing Satsu knew he was being blasted backwards by a wall of pure force. He tumbled along the ground, sometimes going head over heels, until he finally slowed to a stop a couple hundred yards away from where he had been standing.

"Ow," he moaned as rubbed his neck.

"Sorry," she said as she ran over to him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said as she helped him back up. "But…how do you know that jutsu? I thought only people with the Rinnegan could use that technique?"

"Tou-san explained it to me before he died," she said. "Satsu…my special chakra allows me to warp gravity, remember?"

He nodded, remembering the day when they explained their strengths and weaknesses to each other.

"It also limits you to just gravity techniques, right?" he asked.

She nodded. "That's because my chakra comes from the Deva Path," she said. "Because Tou-san was crippled, I was only able to gain that much of the Rinnegan."

"So you can use all Pain-sama's Deva path techniques?" he said, excitedly.

She shook her head. "So far the only one I can use is **Shinra Tensei,**" she said, sadly. "I have no experience with **Bansho Tenin (Universal Pull) **or any other of his jutsus. And I'm only able to throw things away at the moment and my control for the technique is terrible."

"Well, let me help you fix it," he said, grinning. "Use it on me until you figure out everything about that technique."

"You might get hurt," she said, warningly.

He shrugged and jerked his thumb backwards at himself with a grin. "What's the point of being immortal if you can't have any fun with it?" he asked. "Besides, I told you that I've got a new technique I want to try out as well. What do you say we train together and help each other out?"

Yume smiled and settled into her taijutsu stance. "Very well," she said with a sly grin. "Don't hold anything back, Satsu."

With a grin, he unsealed his scythe and attached the cable to his waist. Pausing to lick the blade a little bit, he grinned. "I could say the same thing to you, Yume-sama," he said. "Here I come!"

Dropping down low, he ran forwards with the blades of his scythe cutting into the ground behind him and spewing up a cloud of dust and sparks. As he got close, he raised the blades and spun the weapons around repeatedly in front of him so fast it blurred into an X shape in the air. Yume jumped backwards as he launched his new technique.

**"Mitama** **Kari! (Soul Hunt)!"** he cackled. He began a series of lightning fast melee attacks that were almost impossible to dodge, using the loose cable trailing from the handle of his weapon to try and ensnare Yume as she dodged the slashes.

"Not bad, Satsu," she said, narrowly avoiding the form's finishing downward strike from above. "But that's not a technique you use to kill, is it?"

He shook his head and leaned forwards on his blade. "I can use it to kill," he said. "But I mainly use it to cut. Once I capture their blood, it's all over."

"Because then you do your ritual, right?" she asked as he stood up straight. Yume's eyes narrowed. "How many offensive techniques can you do?"

"I have the one I just showed you," he said, "as well as a wind technique, the **Daitoppa** **(Great Breakthrough), **plus the ritual."

"So you mainly rely on Ryo for support ninjutsu when you two fight, am I right?" she asked.

He nodded. "I'm much better with taijutsu than him and my Tou-san taught me special his scythe-style kenjutsu," he said. "Not many people can defend it."

Yume's brow furrowed slightly as she threw a few quick kicks. "You might want to learn more jutsus," she said. "If Ryo's not there, you might get into a tight spot. You're a wind user, which is a good thing for a melee fighter like you."

"Why's that?" he asked, using the handle of his scythe to block her attacks.

"Wind users can use their chakra to make wind blades," she explained, countering a slash with a kunai. "I remember my Kaa-san telling me that they can make weapons deadlier and shaper. It might be able to improve your fighting style if you can cut through enemy defenses."

"Really?" Satsu said, absentmindedly slashing back and forth at Yume as fast as he could, trying to put her on the defensive. "Huh. I never thought to do that. When Tou-san and I fought, I just used my chakra to make myself faster."

"You should try it," she smiled as she raised her hand. **"Shinra Tensei!"**

Satsu was blasted into high the air this time instead of just backwards. At the top of his arc, Yume threw a kunai at him, which he managed to turn around with a swing of his scythe. He managed to land on his feet and dashed forwards before flipping into the air, spinning his body like ball with his scythe out in a cutting position. Yume smartly jumped back to avoid the blades, pulling out a couple shuriken.

"This is fun," she smirked as Satsu launched himself at her again, throwing her shuriken at him.

"Yeah," he grinned, grabbing a kunai to deflect the incoming shuriken before attaching a paper bomb to it. "Catch this!"

"I don't have to," she said with a sly smile. **"Shinra Tensei!"**

The wall of force blew the paper bomb backwards right toward Satsu, who swallowed and prepared for the pain. Instead, he felt a strong pulling sensation from in front and looked up to see the kunai disappear from sight into the black hole Yume had created. She was panting heavily, her hand still outstretched to stop the blast.

"I think…that's…enough…for now," she panted. "**Shinra Tensei** takes up…a lot of chakra."

"It hurts like hell too," Satsu said, rubbing his neck.

"Let's call it a night then," she said. "We have our first mission in the morning."

"D-ranks," he mumbled. "Oh joy!"

Yume laughed and made her hand sign. A second of eerie molecule-pulling sensations later, they were standing on top of the Hokage monument.

"I'm going home now," she said. "Maybe I'll see you around the village sometime during tomorrow's missions?"

"Yeah," he smirked. "I'll see you around, Yume-sama."

With another smile, Yume jumped off into the village, leaving him alone there. He smirked and ran a hand through his hair, watching the spot where had stood.

"Dammit," he said to himself. "If Ryo finds out about this, he is never gonna let me hear the end of it."

His smirk turned into a grin as he resealed his scythe and walked down the path leading into the village.

"Well, I did get some good advice out of this," he said, making a mental note to learn how to make wind blades with his scythe. "So I guess I'd be able to kick his ass for it."

He looked out across the village towards the horizon, where the sun was just starting to set and cast a golden glow across the entire landscape.

"D-ranks," he muttered. "I better not have to go after that evil cat."

**ALRIGHT HOW DID I DO WITH THIS ONE? AS AKATSUKI FANFICS GO, I THINK I'M DOING PRETTY GOOD WITH THIS ONE SO FAR. BUT I AM OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS, SO LEAVE THEM IN YOUR REVIEWS! **

**MY NEXT UPDATE MIGHT NOW BE FOR A WHILE, SINCE I'VE GOT A LOT GOING ON IN SCHOOL NOW. BUT I WILL BE A GOOD BOY LIKE TOBI AND WORK TO GET IT OUT QUICKLY. **

**UNTIL THEN, JA NE MY FRIENDS!**


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